Friday, October 29, 2010

Chile: UFO Activity in the North Region

Numerous eyewitness reports from the region of Vallenar and Huasco are becoming known through the media, describing and displaying extraordinary photos and descriptions of strange beings witnessed by locals and caught on film.

Thus, Claudio Ramirez, a subofficer with the Carabineros (state police) of the Huasco Region (Alto del Carmen) received a visit from an elderly drover who allegedly had contact with strange beings traveling in a flying device. The drover, who lives in a remote and lonely area known as Quebrada de Pachuy, bore witness to his experience before police authorities. The drover’s account agrees in a certain way with that of Mrs. Serena Miranda, a resident of the area known as “Crucecitas”, who also claims having seen “unusual dwarves, with short arms, legs and neck”, walking in an open field near her property.

A photograph of a looming object of undefined shape in the skies over Alto del Carmen, taken by a broadcaster engaged in activities involving his radio program, completely unrelated to the subject of UFOs, was displayed on Chile’s Mega Visión Channel. All indications is that there is no trickery involved with the image.

As always occurs in these cases, the considerable media interest in these sightings hinders objective investigation within logical and serious parameters. Controversial characters of the Chilean contactee scene have already appeared, taking over the events and using them for their benefit. It suffices to look at Internet chat groups and websites to confirm this. This is the world of ufology in Chile, where the phenomenon itself – a fascinating one, the confirmation of its existence being crucial to many people – becomes lost among the revelry and “characters that are stranger than the visitors themselves”, who see and describe the fortunate (or unfortunate, according to one’s perspective) people who have experienced these phenomena.

Argentina: A Horse Mutilation in Pueblo Esther

Pueblo Esther is a small community to the south of Rosario in the Province of Santa Fe, which has accustomed us to news stories concerning the UFO phenomenon.

Several persons claim having seen lights in the fields, ad the locality indeed boasts a significant case history.

On this occasion, the news involves the appearance of a mutilated animal, specifically a young horse, found with the typical inscision to its jaw, total extraction of the eyeball and excision of the ear canal and the tongue, leaving the hyoid bones expones.

The case was reported by Fernando Schienke, who found the horse in a field near his home. Astonished by the injuries to the specimen, he tried to find information about them.

The animal was found on October 17, 2010 and we are still waiting for more details from the witness. In the meantime, we are disclosing a series of details on the investigation. A series of photos will show the aspects to be kept in mind when investigating mutilation cases.

We can quickly observe that the wound presents a net incision with tissue dehydration and in some parts, removal of hair down to the skin along the cut. The type of incision can be clearly made out in a magnified photo. There is neither tearing nor remnants of tissue on the bone, which turns out to be one of the differentiating factors.

The presence of flies: this factor is very interesting, since many pathologists argue that the loss of soft tissue is due to phagocytosis by fly larvae. These photos show how flies begin to work on the animal’s carcass. No colonies of bacteria are visible, no fly larvae. This indicates the insects’ first contact with the carcass. However, the wounds are as latent as the incisions.

Over years of investigation we have been able to establish some basic patterns, the start of action by flies, the carrion animals that appear first, such as the wild boar, as well as some birds. However, all of them appear some 72 hours after an animal presenting these injuries has been found.

Birds tend to make their mark through feces on the back of the animal. We are expecting more details on the case with a follow-up of the area. This incident is a test case for Vision Ovni, as the town of Pueblo Esther is an area of multiple sightings, and a very important item of information for research as a whole.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Quest for Lost Kingdoms

The Quest for Lost KingdomsBy Scott Corrales (c) 2001

A visit to the fantasy aisle of any secondhand bookstore in the country will almost surely yield a treasure trove of yellowing pulps with lurid color covers from the 1930's and 1940's. These aging flights of fancy usually pit sinewy heroes against demons or fell beasts, usually in exotic, eldritch settings. Edgar Rice Burroughs sent his famous "Tarzan" character to Opar, a legendary African kingdom while H. Rider Haggard exposed his adventuresome character, Allan Quartermain, to the tender mercies of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed in the shifting sands of Egypt. A generation grew up reading about the daring escapes and close calls of a number of fantastic characters as they made their way through an Africa of the mind, filled with lost cities and the remnants of ancient civilizations.

But after we've replaced the well-thumbed paperbacks on their dusty shelves and banished all thoughts of escapism from our minds, we are left to ponder the question of "lost kingdoms". Were there ever any, and if so, what became of them? Do the remains of great kings, proud queens and mighty heroes lay forgotten under the sands of the vast Sahara, or else in the hearts of nigh-impenetrable rainforests?

Garama, The City Under the Sands

"Men dwell there called Garamantes, an exceeding great nation who sow on earth which they have laid on the slat...these Garamantes go in their four-horse chariots chasing the Ethiopians". Herodotus, The Histories, IV.183

In its heyday, Imperial Rome controlled all of Europe to the east and the south of the Rhine and the Danube (with the addition of Trans-Danubian Dacia later on), Asia Minor and the Levant, and North Africa from modern Morocco to Egypt. Beyond these borders lay roaming barbarian tribes, petty client kingdoms (the Bosporians) and hostile Empires (the Parthians). Roman Africa, the Empire's granary and the birthplace of poets, philosophers and emperors, stretched far deeper into the Sahara than is commonly shown in history book maps, bringing it into contact with desert tribespeople and the kingdom of the Garamantes, who shall be referred to as Garamantians for purposes of this work.

It would seem as though the unquiet ghosts of the Garamantians struggled to make themselves felt by modern man for a very long time indeed: In 1914,italian archaeologist Salvatore Aurigemma stumbled across a fascinating Roman mosaic in the modern Libyan village of Zliten, to the south of the ancient port of Leptis Magna. The mosaic showed a young woman being devoured by a leopard as two other victims await a similar fate. These sacrificial victims are depicted as having acquiline noses, straight hair and beards which identified them as Garamantians. Almost 20 years later in 1933, French archaeologist Pierre Belair discovered the mind-bending number of 100,000 tombs in the vicinty of Garama.

Known by its modern appellation--Germa--the ancient Garamantian capital city of Garama is located in the region of modern Libya dubbed the Fezzan, an arabiscised rendering of "Phazania", the ancient world's name for the region. The Garamantian realm, according to the historian Herodotus, was "a kingdom larger than Europe" defended by warriors "who chased the Ethiopian troglodytes" for sport in their battle chariots. Images of these vehicles have survived the passing of centuries on the stone walls of canyons and desert massifs, particularly Djebel Zenkekra. Images stretching even farther back into the historical record can be found at this location: 7000 years of it, even as the Sahara became less and less hospitable, with grass growing too scarce to support horses and cattle. The Garamantians and their four-hourse chariots belong to the period marked between 1250 and 1000 B.C.E., and have been identified by some as "Peoples of the Sea" who assaulted Pharaonic Egypt from the Eastern Mediterranean. When their plans were thwarted, this warlike culture may have settled in Phazania, west of Egypt.

The Garamantians also receive a curious mention in a 16th century book called Reloj de Principes and written by Spanish chronicler Antonio de Guevara (1480-1545). Chapter 22 of said work bears the title "Of how the Great Alexander, after defeating King Darius in Asia, went on to conquer Great India and of what happened with the Garamantes..." Guevara places the Garamantians in the "Ripaean Mountains" of India, saying that "these barbarian peoples known as the Garamantes" had never been conquered by Persians, Medes or Romans (sic) because of their poverty and the lack of material rewards to be gained by a military adventure. But Alexander the Great, renowed among all conquerors for his innate curiosity, sent an embassy to exact tribute.

Citing Lucius Boscus's De antiguitatibus grecorum, Guevara adds that the Garamantians "had houses that looked the same, that all the men wore the same type of clothing, and that no man had greater wealth than his fellows."

Was the Garamantian kingdom as large as Herodotus suggested? The indefatigable Henri Lhote, famous for his work with the Tassili pictograms, managed to find depictions of war chariots in the Hoggar Mountains nearly a thousand miles away from Phazania. In the summer of 2000, a multidisciplinary archaeological team from the British universities of Reading, Newcastle and Leicester confirmed a three thousand mile long natural irrigation network connected to underground water supplies had been positively identified, confirming the fact that the Garamantians had controlled an empire of over 70,000 square miles which featured three major cities (modern Germa, Zinchecra and Saniat Gebril) and nearly two dozen lesser settlements. The irrigation network allowed for expanded food production and the maintenance of a sedentary population of some 50,000 souls. The new discoveries have also spurred a revision of the historical tables: the first towns would have appeared around 500 B.C.E, and the Garamantians would have become a significant political entity around 100 B.C.E., eventually disappearing around 750 C.E. with the onslaught of Islamic conquerors into the area. British newspaper The Independent quotes the team's leader, University of Leicester archaeologist Prof. David Mattingly, thus: "Our research is revealing that, with human ingenuity and against all the odds, the people of the world's largest desert were able to create a prosperous and successful civilization in one of the dryest and hottest wildernesses on Earth. The Romans liked to think of the Garamantes as simple barbarians. The new archaeological evidence is now putting teh record straight and showing they were brilliant farmers, resourceful engineers and enterprising merchants who produced a remarkable civilization." Mattingly was perhaps referring to the citadel at Aghram Nadarif ("city of salt" in the Berber language), measuring 460 feet by 160 feet, which featured imrpessive walls and watch towers. It has been suggested that this outpost was the transshipment point for salt coming from the Mediterranean and on its way into tropical Africa in exchange for gold, ivory and exotic animals to be slain by the gladiators of Rome.

A Real Queen of the Desert

In the oasis of Abelessa, not far from Tamanrasset, one of the Sahara's best known spots, thanks to the Paris-Dakar Rally, holds another of the desert's mysteries: the ruined fortress of Tin Hinan, whose architecture does not resemble the crude structures raised by the desert dwellers. Archaeologists are still at a loss to identify the builders of this city, but in 1926, a Franco-American archaeological team managed to discover a rectangular chamber filled covered with soil, which in turn concealed six slabs of considerable size. Beneath these stone behemoths lay the remains of Tin Hinan, the legendary queen considered by the Tuareg to be the founder of their people.

The legendary queen's mummy was covered in the tattered remains of a leather outfit. Tin Hinan wore seven sivler bracelets on one arm and eight on her left arm; a ring and a leaf-shaped dagger covered her chest area. Her right foot was surrounded by spheres of antimony and the rest of her body was surrounded with pearls of various colors.

James Wellard, author of The Great Sahara, cites one Dr. Leblanc of the University of Algiers School of Medicine as having described the queen's mortal remains thus: "A woman of the white race...the formation of the skeleton strongly recalls the Egyptian type as seen on the pharaonic monuments, characterized by height and slimness, wideness of shoulder, smallness of pelvis and slenderness of leg." This forensic opinion launched speculation about Tin Hinan's origin. Were her remains, in fact, those of Antinea, the legendary last queen of Atlantis? Sober-minded historians prefer to believe that Tin Hinan's fortress could have been an advanced outpost of the Roman Army, perhaps even a customs entrepot or warehouse, guarding the trans-Saharan trade routes.

A Forgotten Alphabet

It is almost a matter of honor that any chronicle on the Sahara desert, regardless of the aspect being discussed, include at least a passing mention of the Tassili-N-Ajer petroglyphs. These remarkable images portray the ancient inhabitants of the Sahara engaged in actitivities crucial for their survival, such as hunting and agriculture, or in social and spiritual activity such as dancing and worship. These 10,000 year-old images were first made known to the world in 1956, when they were displayed in Paris's Musee de l'Homme. The Tassili images created a sensation when they were first displayed, and would later provide high-octane fuel for Erich Von Daniken's theories of extraterrestrial visitation in prehistoric times. This speculation was centered around a number of disturbing images which do not resemble the stylized hunter-gatherers of ten millenia ago: bipedal figures wearing what appear to be modern, single-piece outfits, their heads covered by one-eyed "helmets". Anthropologists have been quick to dismiss any suggestions that prehistoric artists were representing visitors from another world, suggesting instead that the images represent shamans wearing ceremonial outfits represeting certain gods or elemental forces.

The Tassili-N-Ajer saga began to unfold in 1933, when two officers of the French Foreign Legion--Lt.Col. Brenans and Col. Carbillet--became the first contemporary Europeans to set foot in the Tassili plateau, which had been considered off-limits by desert tribesmen. Setting out from Fort Polignac, the two officers entered the Ighargharen Gorge and discovered the seemingly endless succession of paintings. Their superiors in Paris informed the Musee de l'Homme and an old Sahara hand, Henri Lhote, was dispatched to investigate. Fighting his way through the brambles and thorny desert "vegetation", Lhote was startled by the profusion of white kaolin and iron oxide images showing giraffe, antelope and elephants--creatures that called the then-verdant Sahara home.

In the fullness of time, a team of artists, photographers and archaeologists would return to Tassili to fully document--on enormous rolls of canvas--the full extent of the desert fastness's holdings. But the world remembers only two features of the hard work of these French scientists: their discovery of the Great Horned God or God of Sefa (a flat-headed, horned figure that towers with outstretched arms over a multitude of animals, dancers and "floating" characters) and the disturbing "roundheads" in their modern clothes.

Perhaps one of the least-known aspects of the Tassili-N-Ajer petroglyphs has been the discovery of an "alphabet" that hails back to an age where writing was supposedly unknown. Pierre Colombel, who has followed the footsteps of Henri Lhote in analyzing the desert images, has worked on an image involving hunters surmounted by glyphs consisting of regular geometrical shapes and dots, which roughly resemble the "writing" found on the haloes of Australia's enigmatic Wondjina figures. According to Colombel, the message could be something as insignificant as a hunter bragging about his prowess with the lance or a significant legacy to our times which shall forever remain undecipherable.

Mystery of the Veiled Nomads

After the conquest of the Fezzan by the victorious armies of the Omayyad Caliphate, the Garamantians and their works vanished from history. Some historians have seen them as the progenitors of the mysterious veiled desert nomads known as the Tuaregs, who bear no physical resemblance to other Berber peoples, who appear to have arrived from the deep Sahara in the 5th century as the Roman Empire disintegrated. However, there exist other traditions pointing to a far older origin for these desert dwellers.

In her book The Ancient Atlantic (Amherst Press, 1969) L.Taylor Hansen's included a purely anecdotal account which linked the Sahara's Tuareg tribesmen to a secret tradition probably going back to the Garamantians and their lost realm. Citing a chance encounter with a man of Arab descent in Mexico City, Hansen details the existence of a tribe of Tuareg "warrior women" who allegedly still exist in the Sahara, sporting the arm-daggers adn short swords used in antiquity, as well as shields with a pitchfork-shaped device representing "the three high peaks of the Hoggar" under which there supposedly exist underground galleries filled with petroglyphs similar to those at Tassili, depicting aurochs and other prehistoric animals. Hansen's interlocutor advised her that the Tuaregs believed that their people had come from the ocean,and that the name they gave themselves meant "people of the sea".

Hansen pressed her anonymous source for more information on the subterranean galleries allegedly occupied by the modern Tuareg and was given the following information: A European explorer engaged in a survey of the Hoggar mountains was startled to come across a rough opening in the stone closed off with metal bars. Peering downward, the explorer realized that it was a ventilation shaft of some sort. Fear of alerting Tuareg raiders, however, kept him from casting a stone down the shaft in order to ascertain its depth.

The story becomes even more fantastic when the anonymous interlocutor tells Hansen that under the miles of underground torch-lit galleries can be found a "beautiful artificial lake" around which the ancient writings of the Tuaregs' forebears are preserved--allegedly extending as far back as the Flood.

We can feel free to accept or reject, Hansen's story about the Tuaregs and the mighty works of their forebears, but one detail in her conversation with the stranger is extremely intriguing: the man mentions that the Tuaregs trace their descent back to the ancient Greek hero Heracles, better known to us under the Latin designation of Hercules.

French author Louis Charpentier suggests in his Les Geants et les Mystéres de Sont Origines (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1968) that the character of Herakles does not refer to a single hero of superhuman strength, but is a name which has a similar meaning as "paladin" or "champion". The Herakles related to North Africa and the Sahara in particular would have been the one detailed to exterminate the giant Antaeus and bring the Golden Apples from the Hesperides. Mighty Antaeus, writes Charpentier, was wedded to Tingis, the daughter of Atlas--both of them North African place names--and ruled a kingdom surrounding the Triton--the inland sea which supposedly occupied the northern Sahara and whose name survived well into Roman times (it survives today as the salt desert known as Chott al-Djerid, the location where the first installment of Star Wars was filmed in 1976). To bolster his argument, Charpentier points to the burial place of the giant Antaeus at Charf, a mound to the south of modern Tangier, a place excavated by Roman legionaries whose efforts under the hot sun were apparently rewarded by a large find of ancient bones.

Could the Tuareg indeed be descended from this eldest of lost kingdoms, claiming one of the best-known mythical figures as a forebear?

Conclusion

The belief in long-lost kingdoms enshrouded in lianas and guarded by leopards and poisonous reptiles is sometimes too great to resist--even eminently rational scientists occasionally give in to its siren's call.

Italian geologist Angelo Pitoni, a consultant on the acclimation of tropical plants and vegetables to Mediterranean climates for the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), succumbed to "lost kingdom fever" after performing his duties in the African republic of Guinea. His interested was ignited in 1991 by the totally fortuitous discovery of some enigmatic statues in war-torn Sierra Leone, followed by a totally unexpected find: a giant statue in the mountains of Guinea, known to locals as "the lady of Mali". In an interview with journalist Carmen Machado, Pitoni explained that the statue is located to the north of the city of Conakry and close enough to the country's border with Mali. The geologist estimates the "lady of Mali" to be some twenty thousand years old, gauging this through the displacement of a rock fault. Pitoni also speaks of caves in the area which contain very old mummies that are zealously guarded by the locals and their possible "Atlantean" origin.

The geologist bolsters his belief by means of an extraordinary object: a strange crystal found in Sierra Leone diamond fields and which resembles a pure turquoise similar to some found on the pectorals of Egyptian priests. Analyses performed on this "Stone of Heaven", as he calls it, revealed that it is different from any other gemstone known to man: seventy-seven percent oxygen, twenty per cent carbon and limestone, with silica and trace elements. While a deep, sky blue in color, fragments of the stone are perfectly transparent.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Mexico: Youth Videotapes Extraordinary UFO Evidence

Source: www.analuisacid.comDate: 10.24.2010

Mexico: Youth Videotapes Extraordinary UFO EvidenceBy Ana Luisa Cid

Images Courtesy: Sergio Javier Mayén and Javier Mayén

The following vidcaps belong to the extraordinary recording made by young Sergio Javier Mayén, who managed to capture two unidentified flying objects with his video camera as they flew over Colonia Torre Blanca, Mexico City, on October 21, 2005 at 18:26 hrs. Given the importance of the images, I visited the witness at his home to interview him and conduct an on-site investigation.

Interview with Sergio Javier Mayén, 11 December 2005

Ana Luisa: Hello Sergio. How old are you and what do you do?Sergio: I’m 16 years old and study at a vo-tech. I want to be an architectural engineer.

AL: Could you please tell me about your October 21st experience?Sergio: Well, that afternoon I went up to the roof with my sister Melissa, who was playing there. It was she who told me that there was a UFO in the sky. We both watched a reddish-hued orb, and I went downstairs quickly for the camcorder.

AL: Did you manage to record the red orb?Sergio: No, it wasn’t possible, because when I went back to the roof, the red orb wasn’t there anymore. Then I turned to the right to look for it and came across another UFO, with a brilliant spherical object at low altitude, static in the heavens. Since my camera was ready, I was indeed able to record it.

AL: So what happened later?Sergio: After recording the orb and taking some photos of it, I realized that a plane was about to fly over and I decided to widen the shot to show the reference. During the first moments of the video, only one UFO can be seen. Shortly after, another appeared in motion.

AL: How did this object move?Sergio: It moved very slowly and rising toward the zenith. For that reason I was sure that it couldn’t be an airplane or any known object.

AL: Can you describe it?Sergio: Sure. We could see that it was a black, round object surrounded by smaller, really bright orbs.

AL: How long did the sighting last?Sergio: About three and a half minutes, I think, approximately, since the UFO was rising really fast into the sky. It was faster than an airplane.It’s also important to tell you that some things appeared in the original video that crossed the path of the UFO. Some white orbs can be seen, and another longer black-colored object, passing at great speed, and it can only be seen when we put the camera in slow-mo.

AL: Is this the first time you’ve seen a UFO?Sergio: No, because I’ve seen them before and even managed to record one with my cellphone, but I don’t have that video anymore because my sister erased it. I remember that I was talking to a friend about the sighting I had in Guanajuato and I lifted my arm to point how high the UFO was. Then we both looked at the sky and found a luminous sphere.

AL: Do you engage in routine sky watches?Sergio: Sure, since I was little I’ve been looking at the sky, and when I see something weird, I focus to determine if it’s a UFO or something known.

AL: What are UFOs, in your opinion?Sergio: I don’t know, but maybe they could be humans from another dimension with more advanced technology that can travel through dimensional doorways to get here, to research. For example, I saw a documentary about helicopters being reported during the First World War, and that’s unusual, because they didn’t exist back then, so we can’t think that those helicopters were aliens, right? So that’s what makes me say that maybe we’re the UFOs, but from another time, although I think there can be life somewhere else in the universe. It wouldn’t be logical for us to be the only ones. UFOs are something we don’t know very well, but we know they exist.

AL: Thanks, Sergio.

A remark by Mr. Javier Mayén, father of the witnesses

“I think it’s important to highlight that my children had their sighting the same day that Hurricane Wilma hit Mexican territory on October 21, 2005...I’m not sure if there’s any relation between these events, but it’s relevant to researchers who study the possible connection between UFOs and natural disasters.”

Video Analysis

The video has an approximate duration of 3 minutes and was taken with a digital Sony Handycam, Mini-DV format, model DCR-HC15. The evidence was recorded with a manual focus and using the 10x optical zoom. The audio is clear and the conversation between brother and sister can be heard, showing great excitement between both witnesses.After carefully reviewing the images frame by frame, I verified that the second UFO was not present during the first moments of the recording, considering that it appeared suddenly within a time period estimated at a 30th of a second.The UFO presents well-defined outlines, according to the filters applied with the Corel Photo-Paint 10 program.The object’s morphology, illumination and movement correspond to the description given by young Sergio Mayén. Reviewing the final part of the video, and using an electronic zoom, I noticed that the UFO modified its shape at a great height, transforming into two red lights that subsequently became one. This information coincides with Sergio’s narration, who states having first seen a red flash as the orb went away from his visual field.

Final Remarks

From the foregoing, I believe that the material analyzed is genuine and represents solid evidence regarding the presence of UFOs in Mexico. Without question, Sergio Javier Mayén has developed the sensitivity and skill needed to record the enigmatic videos that plow the skies of our country on video, and he will surely continue to surprise us with their extraordinary sightings.(Translation (c) 2010, Scott Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Ana Luisa Cid)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

High Strangeness: Our Haunted Seas

Hardship will drive people to do the unthinkable, and in the early 21st century, some examples of the human drive to flee from hardship are to be found in the endless South to North migration of the oppressed, both in the New and Old Worlds. In August 2004, a newspaper report filed by Joaquín Asención of the El Vocero newspaper highlighted the harrowing, nightmarish experience of nearly forty castaways who had chanced the caprice of the ocean waves for a better chance at a life in neighboring Puerto Rico. A total of eighty-two “boat people” – men, women and children - departed in a rickety boat from the Dominican Republic for what should have been a very short crossing of the unpredictable Mona Passage to a secret landing site somewhere in western Puerto Rico.

But the ocean had a cruel fate in store for the refugees: their precariously outfitted craft, improperly stocked with food and water, was swept out into the Atlantic for a twelve-day odyssey that not even the bravest Hollywood director would try to capture on film. Hunger and thirst raged among the passengers, causing many to jump into the sea to drink in as much salt water as possible before dying; some survivors later reported acts of cannibalism had taken place in the drifting vessel, but the most astonishing – and terrifying- event was yet in store.

One survivor told the journalist reporting the story that while the refugees fought for survival among the wind, waves and merciless sun, a "monster" with vast wings appeared before them. Overcome by dread, passengers huddled together to read from a New Testament that had been found in the vessel, but as they read from the holy book, its pages inexplicably vanished their hands.Only thirty-seven out of the eighty passengers survived the ordeal, eventually being found by fishermen from the Dominican town of Nagua.

What was the strange winged monster? A Mothman-type creature? A supernatural entity emerged from the roiling sea to mock the passengers, or indeed to try their faith? There can be no doubt that spending almost two weeks at sea without food and water can lead to hallucinations, especially when witnessing hellish conditions among one’s fellows, but such tricks of the mind would more than likely summon thoughts of food, safety and shelter, not stygian specters. Would a collective hallucination also include the disappearance of pages from a religious text? A question best left to mental health experts. It is known that certain elemental figures tend to adopt physical manifestations, and conditions and situations that have plagued humanity from the start – war, disease, insanity – may have elementals that embody these odious scourges. Could we speculate that the despairing castaways were witnesses to a manifestation of the elemental of hunger?

It is also true that certain waters appear to be “haunted”: the so-called Horse Latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean were named thus after ghosts of horses supposedly dumped overboard by early mariners when ships were becalmed and water ran short; Vincent Gaddis’s classic Invisible Horizons (NY: Ace, 1965) mentions a rather dreadful apparition known as “Ladylips”, the jawless phantom of a French sea captain, that haunts the waters of the Pacific Ocean and has reportedly been seen by over 500 sailors aboard American and British vessels. Nor should we ever forget the exorcisms performed by the late Reverend Donald Omand over certain bodies of water in Norway (the ominous-sounding Fjord of the Trolls) and the Arctic Ocean that were prone to manifestations of sea serpents and caused mariners to perform irrational acts. And speaking of sea monsters…

An Argentinean Sea Serpent

Guillermo R. Giménez, a contributing editor to the INEXPLICATA journal, is one of Argentina’s most dynamic researchers – an author, indefatigable traveler and meticulous analyst of matters paranormal – who has the great fortune to live in one of his country’s loveliest locations, the seaside resort of Necochea, a paradise for the beachcomber and the marine sportsman alike. Since 1994, he reports, the littoral of Necochea and Quequén has been visited by sort of creature best described as a “sea serpent” – dubbed Joselito -- that was initially reported by Carlos Miño, master of the Paco Ventura, a commercial fishing vessel out of Quequén. The sighting took place between March 18 some six miles out at sea. According to Giménez, the crew radioed their base at Mar del Plata that at 13:00 hours on that day they had seen the monster: “[measuring] some 10 to 12 meters long from head to back, which was all that could be seen…the remainder [of the creature] remained submerged.” This marine nightmare was only a scant 10 meters away from the Paco Ventura when the sighting occurred, while the crew was dragging its nets. Further sightings occurred, reported by commercial and recreational fishermen, but just as many preferred to keep their sightings to themselves.

Carlos Miño, the Ventura’s owner, told Necochea’s Ecos Diarios newspaper that at no time did he feel his ship or crew were at danger. “It appears to be a peaceful specimen. At no time did it threaten us, and I could go as far as to say that it ignored us…I was the first one to see it, although I had no idea what it could be. It called my attention because this dark thing appeared on the water and seagulls suddenly surrounded it. I headed for the ship’s bow, intrigued. After a while it submerged, and then remained floating, which allowed me to take a better look.”

“Part of its back,” continues Miño’s description, had [something like] serrated or staggered fins.” He described these appendages as being similar to “the dinosaurs they show us in books or magazines.” The creature’s head was described as white and rounded, like that of a duck. “I was unable to calculate its full size since I didn’t see the whole animal. It gave the impression of being much larger than what was visible, but I couldn’t calculate it.”

Amid all the commotion over the Necochea sea serpent, a man named Luis Menna recalled that a year earlier, another man had reported seeing two such sea serpents while camped out near Médano Blanco. He reportedly heard “strange sounds or noises” coming from the shallow waters near the coast.

Further corroboration for Carlos Miño’s sighting came from María S. Monterrosa and Osvaldo Gutiérrez, a pair of housekeepers who were looking after summer homes in the vicinity of Bahía de los Vientos. Only a two weeks earlier, they had witnessed a strange marine creature some 15 meters from the coast. “We have seen whales, baby whales, sea lions, penguins and other species, but we had never seen an animal with these characteristics. It had a large head, a serrated back and large eyes. At least three or four meters of the creature’s back could be seen on the surface.”

Could these creatures have emerged from very deep oceanic waters as a result of naval exercises, oil drilling on the Argentinean continental shelf or other man-made activity? Or did they simply come to shallower waters to spawn? One wonders if sightings of such large sea creatures in antiquity were the source of the Babylonian myth of Tiamat, the evil “dragon” that is the source of all sea monsters. Certainly they could embody the Biblical notions of Rahab or Leviathan, as conveyed in the Psalms: "This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great. There the ships sail about; there is the Leviathan which you have made to play there." (Ps 104:25-26). Antedating the Scriptures by centuries we find inscriptions and amulets designed to ward off these unwelcome marine presences, such as this one: “Seven are they…In the Ocean Deep, Seven are they…Neither male nor female are they…The Evil Ones of Ea, throne bearers of the gods are they…” (Thompson, Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia).

Mysterious Golfo de San Jorge

The fact remains that Argentina’s coastal waters have witnessed many strange activity, but the country’s Golfo de San Jorge can safely claim precedence among them all. Not only was it notorious in the 1960’s for a number of USO (unidentified submarine object) reports, but also it’s inordinately high UFO activity led many experts to seriously consider that a “UFOport” existed either underwater or somewhere on land.

An event that occurred in July 1975 and reported by Guillermo Roncorconi a few years alter is a perfect example of this strange activity. In this instance it involved the Patagonian town of Caleta Olivia, which despite its small size is one of the major population centers of the region and serves as a support community for the Argentinean oil industry

On July 15, a group of friends on a fishing trip left Caleta Olivia to enjoy an evening’s fishing, being rewarded by a spectacular catch. It was a clear, windless and cloudless evening presided by a waxing moon that cast its light onto the gulf’s waters. The sportsmen returned to port after midnight, and around 1:30 in the morning, one of the friends noticed what appeared to be a glowing form underwater at a distance from the pier – all of the witnesses later agreed that the form was luminous, elongated and greenish-yellow in color, apparently only a few meters under the surface. They believed at first that object was motionless, but later saw that it was moving slowly under water. They estimated it to be some 10 meters long and 4 meters at its thickest, tapering toward the ends. The mysterious light kept moving without ever breaking the surface and eventually lost itself in the distance.

The sighting could have ended at that, had it not been for the enormous amount of dead fish that washed ashore the next morning and over the course of the following days. Even more enigmatic were the sudden deaths of seabirds – gulls and albatrosses – in the vicinity.

Blame was quickly placed on the oil pipeline belonging to Yacimientos Petroleos Fiscales (YPF), Argentina’s major petroleum producer, but no oil spill was ever detected and subsequent investigations eliminated the possibility that the bird and fish deaths were somehow oil related. Commercial fishermen complained about having to go many miles out to sea for their daily catches, due to the near total absence of fish in coastal waters.

Was the slow-moving light reported by the four sportsmen who had just enjoyed a fine evening of fishing some kind of damaged or leaking unidentified submarine object, making its way back to its base in the depths of the ocean for repairs? The concept that a vehicle from another, more advanced civilization, whether alien, interdimensional or terrestrial, would leak radiation like a damaged nuclear submarine can be hard to swallow, but how else to account for the enigmatic deaths of not only fish, but seabirds?

Conclusion

Our planet Earth could have just as easily been called Water, and perhaps more fairly, as any satellite image of our world proves the prevalence of water over soil, or of the god Poseidon over Ceres, to wax mythological. From the shallow green of coastal waters where sailboats and motorboats play to the cobalt blue plowed by freighters, ocean liners and warships, humanity’s fascination for the hydrosphere is as unending as it is irresistible. Aside from the natural dangers that this liquid medium holds for air breathers, mariners and landlubbers alike have hinted at other perils that cannot be escaped in a lifeboat or by wearing a bright orange preserver. Myth? Rumor? Poorly explained natural phenomena? Enlightened minds would have us believe that there is nothing in the heavens or on earth that can escape the cold light of science, but the sea’s mysteries are not so easily put aside…

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Relics: Perplexing Objects of the Past

Few people outside of South America have ever heard of this most mysterious and controversial emblem of power, which according to some sources, may be the ultimate source of mysteries.

Tradition holds that the Baton of Command (a direct translation of its Spanish name, Bastón de Mando, which in turn translates as Simihuinqui -- the name given to it by the South American tribesmen) was crafted some eight thousand years ago by Multán (also known as Voltán), a mighty chieftain of the Comechingones tribe, from a piece of black basalt. The occult powers of this ancient artifact were legendary among the tribes of the modern Argentinean Chaco and the Bolivian lowlands, and in the 1830's, an Araucanian warlord named Calfucurá--well steeped in his people's traditions--led a massive search for the object in the mountain ranges of Tandil, Balrcarce, San Luis and Córdoba which did not turn up the Baton of Command.

It is at this point that we must delve into the other esoteric tradition linked to this black basalt wand: students of the occult believe that aside from its neolithic age, the Baton of Command is tied in to the European tradition of the Holy Grail, which has been handed down to us through Arthurian legend and Wagnerian opera and is far removed from fiction.

These esoterics, like the late Argentinean scholar Guillermo Terrera, believe that the 12th century chansons de geste of Chretien de Troyes and Wolfram Von Eschenbach make allusions to the Baton of Command and to the existence of South America--a landmass whose existence Medieval man could not have suspected.

While these allegations would quite rightly be dismissed as crankery in the hallowed halls of academe, Terrera and his followers nevertheless make an intriguing case for their beliefs. According to these esoteric revisionists, mythological sources in Central and Eastern Asia make reference to a mysterious character entrusted with the custody of two sacred items: one of them the so-called Holy Grail o Sangraal, and the other being "the Stone of Wisdom", which they identify as the Baton of Command.

The enigmatic custodian of these items would have begun his career thousands of years ago, and is only known as the "Man from Persia" -- the Parsifal of Eschenbach's songs, and the Sir Perceval of the Arthurian Cycle. According to the German minstrel's epic, the enigmatic Parsifal travelled to the land of Argentum ("...the secret gates of a silent land named Argentum and will always be...") to lay the objects under his care in the sacred hill known as Vlarava. Extrapolating from the epic poem, these esotericists have identified Argentum with Argentina and the sacred mount Vlarava with Mount Uritorco in the country's northern reaches.

Putting aside their reliance on late Medieval epic for a moment, Terrera and his colleagues further noted that the knighthood of the Grail mentioned in the songs is none other than that of the Knights Templar, about whom much has already been written. Their belief is borne out by the fact that the Templars seemed obsessed with recovering a holy relic which was variously known as the "Stone of Wisdom" or the "Talking Stone" -- could this have been the Baton of Command?

In 1934, a mystic named Orfelio Ulises, who had just returned to Argentina after having spent eight years in Tibet as an adept of lamaism, came across upon the mysterious Baton of Command, allegedly "guided" by the mental powers of his Tibetan masters, and dug the object out of the slopes of Mount Uritorco in Capilla del Monte. While all of this smacks of Madame Blavatsky in all her glory, other more credible events would also come to pass.

Much like Spielberg's Indiana Jones, Ulises would come to realize that other parties were interested in his discovery: The Nazi Ahnenerbe ("Ancestral Heritage Society"), founded by Heinrich Himmler in 1935 with the aim of supporting the theories put forth by the notorious Thule Society, had already secured paranormal objects like the Spear of Longinus--also known as the Spear of Destiny--in 1938, and a year earlier had started to send out worldwide expeditions in search of Noah's Ark, Atlantis, and bizarre medicines used by South American natives. It was only a matter of time before these twisted forces had fixed their predatory gaze on the Baton of Command. To their aid came then-colonel Juan Domingo Perón--Argentina's future dictator. Perón spent the late 1930's as a military observer in Italy and Germany and was also fascinated by the occult.

Orfelio Ulises and a number of "hermetic scholars" managed to conceal the periapt from the Nazis and keep in Argentina, where it remained under Ulises' care until his death, and then passed on to Professor Guillermo Terrera in 1948. It is currently in the custody of Dr. Fernando Fluguerto Martí and his Delphos Group.

Also in 1948, Baron Georg Von Hauenschild, an archaeologist and Grail scholar, prepared an exhaustive report on the Baton of Command for the Institute of Archaeology, Linguistics and Folklore of the University of Cordoba, showing that the object's estimated age was indeed 8000 years and of clearly neolithic manufacture. Great care was taken by prehistoric craftsmen in polishing the object, rounding off its base and tapering its head into a soft conical shape. The volcanic basalt that it is made of gives it a metallic look, and when struck, the Baton of Command makes a ringing sound. Subsequent electromagnetic and spectroscopic analyses proved that the Baton emits an electromagnetic field; students of the occult have construed this to mean that a properly trained adept, under the right conditions, might be able to establish a paraphysical link to other realities or unlock the wand's secrets.

This is where the Baton of Command's powers apparently lie: it was designed, according to Professor Terrera, as a means of regenerating humanity and patiently awaits the right person to come and make use of it. As of this writing, that person has apparently not come.

Author Luis Alberto Vence makes the following curious note. According to historical sources and the beliefs of contemporary smiths and armorers, the mythical blade Excalibur would have measured approximately 1.10 meters -- the exact length of the Simihuinqui or Baton of Command.

Metaphysical claptrap or occult truth? You be the judge. In his book El Valle de los Espíritus (Buenos Aires, Kier, 1989) Terrera sums up the situation thus: "We must bear in mind that all that science has discovered up until yesterday as an absolute truth could be corrected either today or tomorrow, since all human knowledge is subject to change, as part of the dynamic process that accompanies it."

Rings of Power and Other Finery

In 1997, moviegoers were treated to John Cameron's Titanic and its subplot concerning an intriguing blue diamond. Jewels such as the one shown in the film have often been ascribed remarkable talismanic powers, and in other cases, qualities that make them lethal to the user, much like the One Ring in J.R.R. Tolkien's saga.

Not many of these items have survived down to our time, but we know that Alexander the Great was particularly fond of an unusual opal which kept him from being wounded in battle. Upon embarking on his conquest of the Persian Empire, the Macedonian king (whose own armor would become talismanic over the centuries, as mentioned earlier) made a quick stop at the ruins of Troy to secure a sacred shield, which had belonged to one of the heroes of Homeric legend, in an effort to bolster his invulnerability an extra notch. But neither the exotic opal nor the ancient shield were much help when an arrow pierced Alexander's lungs while storming the walls of a city in the Punjab.

Rings occupy a privileged position among all articles of jewelry: Apollonius of Tyana received a ring of amber from one of the initiates in the fabled city of Iarchas somewhere in Central Asia (or another dimension?). The amber stone allegedly kept its wearer from harm and enabled him or her to have foreknowledge of any dangers ahead--a faculty that the legendary Apollonius employed more than once. Charlemagne possessed an unusual ring whose stone was supposed to preserve all of a warlord's conquests. Naturally, this amulet quickly taken by the Frankish monarch's son Lewis and in turn squabbled over by Charlemagne's nephews, who divided up their grandfather's empire.

But the powers ascribed to these adornments mainly reflect the wishes of the human wearer rather than any true supernatural powers. However, what are we to make of the ring worn by Charles XII of Sweden? This Scandinavian monarch ruled an empire built around the Baltic Sea and was one of Russia's most implacable foes. Author Brad Steiger notes in his book Atlantis Rising (Dell, 1976) that the Swedish king's rise to power had apparently been aided an abetted by his dealings with a "little grey man" who had given him a ring that would vanish on the day of Charles' death. The monarch appears to have gladly accepted this gift and embarked on his military career. In the heat of battle, shortly after one of his officers noted that the ring had vanished from his fingers, the monarch received a mortal wound.

Emeralds held a particular fascination for the infamous Emperor Nero, according to the historian Pliny, who wrote that the lyre-strumming despot owned a flat, nameless specimen imbued with supernatural powers, which he even used as a magnifying glass. While antiquity was fascinated by colored stones like sapphires and rubies, diamonds acquired importance in more recent centuries--some of them having names and histories as bizarre as any fictional object, and the Hope, Star of India and Kolhinoor diamonds have been featured on silver screen.

The Regent diamond is one of the more fascinating ones. A slave in an Indian mine found the precious stone sometime during the 1600's and escaped bondage, only to be slain by a sailor to whom he had shown the diamond. The sailor took the stone to France, where he died a suicide. The Regent changed hands from one French aristocrat to the next, bringing misfortune to all of them. Napoleon Bonaparte had the Regent embedded in the pommel of his sword, which he later surrendered upon being exiled to Elba in 1814.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Thrice Great

God or human wizard? All books of esoteric lore speak reverently of Hermes Trismegistus or Hermes Thrice Great and his coveted "Emerald Tablet". Worshipped by the Greek residents of the Egyptian city of Alexandria, and identified with the ancient deity Thoth, the scribe of the underworld, Hermes Trismegistus was believed to have been a human monarch who ruled for three thousand years and wrote an amazing thirty-five thousand books -- a useful way of filling up three millennia. Yet only fragments of this mythic figure's writings have been handed down from hoary antiquity, ironically through the works of Christian authors.

Although some modern scholars agree that Hermes Thrice Great was in fact the title given to the proto-chemist in charge of refining gold--a seemingly "magical" process to the ancients--medieval alchemists and thinkers considered Trismegistus to have handed down secrets preserved by the aptly-named "hermetic" schools of knowledge.

The most significant of these works was a document referred to as the Emerald Tablet, which was supposedly buried along with Trismegistus's mummy under the Great Pyramid of Gizeh. The Tablet allegedly reveals the secrets of alchemy. Although the Hermes Thrice Great's mummy still waits patiently for archaeologists to find it (although the "Tomb of Osiris" discovered in 1998 does offer fascinating possibilities), part of the Emerald Tablet's metallurgical secrets can be found in the Leyden Papyrus--brought back to Europe in the 1820's by Johann d'Anastasi--which escaped the destruction of alchemical texts mandated by the Emperor Diocletian in 298 A.D..Based on this historical assessment, one could hardly consider the Emerald Table a holy relic...unless the theories of Argentinean author Fabio Zerpa are taken into consideration.

Zerpa, better known for his work in ufology, cites the Count de Gebélin's belief that the Emerald Tablet is merely another name for the legendary Book of Thoth -- a forbidden book some ten thousand years old which would have been the basis of Egyptian civilization and occultism, as well as the key to "mastering the secrets of the air, the sea, the earth and the heavenly bodies". In Primitive World, his treatise on Egypt, de Gebélin remarks that the Book of Thoth survived destruction because it was cleverly disguised as a game, as we shall see below.

An Egyptian priest, Nefer-Ka-Ptah, retrieved the book, which had been sealed in a series of nested sarcophagi and kept in the bottom of Nile. Upon studying it, the priest was able to learn the art of numerology, communication with entities living across space and time, clairvoyance, and the art of building "magic mirrors" which do not reflect the viewer's countenance, but rather other worlds inhabited by loathsome beings.

Nefer-Ka-Ptah died a suicide, according to the story, and the Book of Thoth was spirited out of Egypt. Its magical powers and hidden knowledge would spread around the world in the form of the Minor and Major Arcana of the Tarot, which first appeared around 1200 A.D. in Italy as carticellas ("little cards") and were banned in 1240 and 1329 by bishops across Europe as malign. In his book The Black Art (Paperback Library, 1968) Rollo Ahmed, notes that the High Priestess card represents the Egyptian goddess Isis--perhaps the most tangible link to its Egyptian origin.

So, if Zerpa is right, the Tarot deck in your drawer could harken back to mythological times, placing it among the oldest relics known to mankind.

Magic Mirrors and Scrying Stones

Mathematician, astrologer, alchemist, spy, close advisor to queens and emperors: these are the impressive credentials of Dr. John Dee, one of the 16th century's most influential personages. Although he is best remembered for his work in the esoteric arts, mainly the development of the Enochian language employed in magical rituals, it is possible to find endless references to Dee's importance as political and scientific figure without a single mention of the aspects which have made him a household name in occult circles.

John Dee's achievements in esoterica--alleged communication with an order of angelic beings--were achieved through the technique known as "scrying", looking into mirrors or similar reflective surfaces such as bowls filled with water, mercury or oil, in order to have clairvoyant experiences. Dr. Dee himself lacked this ability, and depended on his assistant Edward Kelley to do the viewing (a technique very similar to a modern-day Remote Viewer and his handler). The techniques involved in the process of speaking to otherworldly entities are contained in Dee's Libri Mysteriorum.

The reflective surfaces employed in the scrying were a globe of rock crystal--a precursor of the "crystal ball"--and a flat surface which Dee referred to as his "jet shewstone". These items are important relics of the paranormal tradition and survive to this very day, currently displayed in the British Museum.

Where Dr. Dee acquired his objects of power is a mystery. Nevertheless, there has been the suggestion--posited by paranormal researcher and playwright Eugenia Macer-Story--that the good doctor may have obtained them, by means of the activities of English "seadogs" raiding Spanish galleons, from the place they were most available at the time: Aztec Mexico, only recently conquered by Spain.The Aztec priesthood had fashioned a great many magic mirrors out of obsidian, and some of them are in museums, like the legendary black mirror of the evil deity Tezcatlipoca, on display in the Mexico City's Instituto Nacional de Antropología.

There exist other objects allegedly employed for the purpose of communication with other levels of existence. One of them leads us into a discussion of the ever-controversial Knights Templar, the monastic order of warriors whose activities had a major impact on Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during almost two centuries. The Templars are perhaps better known for their activities during the Crusades and the tragic end of their order at the hands of the kings of France, but a number of scholars have focussed on the occult aspects of their work. George Andrews cites French paranormalist Guy Tarade's research into a document dating back to the year 1310, which contains the "transcript" of the torture of knight Templar by Church authorities. The tormented warrior-monk speaks of time travel, fiery chariots, wells of darkness in the heavens and realms of existence around unknown stars. Logically, this can be dismissed as pain-induced delirium, but the transcript hints at these things being seen through a "chest made of an unknown metal" tentatively identified with the Ark of the Covenant.

Here we take another flying leap into speculation: aside from all the powers ascribed to it over the millennia, could the Ark have been a means of seeing into other places and times? Andrews suggests that the "well of darkness in the heavens" is an unspecialized description of the astronomical phenomenon our scientists term a Black Hole--something utterly unknown in the 14th century.

Mysterium Tremendum: The Ark of the Covenant

It is with some trepidation that any writer approaches the subject of the Ark, since theories about its nature branch out like the leaves of a tree into unsuspected directions, making a cursory examination nearly impossible. In the limited space available to us here, we shall try to examine some of the most provocative thoughts on this, the most spoken-of relic that is out of our hands.

Viewers of Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark already know the basics: the Ark was a transportable device given by Yahweh to the ancient Israelites as a means of communication and occasionally as a weapon. The holy object was stored in the Temple of Jerusalem where presumably only members of the priesthood had access to it, and was kept safe from capture during the various invasions of Palestine by foreign powers (Egyptians, Assyrians and Hellenic Syrians). Although the Emperor Titus successfully conquered Jerusalem in 70 A.D., his triumphal arch in Rome, which shows Roman legionaries on parade with their captured booty from the temple (the Menorah, sacred trumpets and tables), does not include the Ark--a sculptor's oversight, perhaps? These objects remained in Rome until the city was sacked by the marauding Vandals in the 5th century and taken to their capital, Carthage. The Byzantine armies of Belisarius shipped the objects to Constantinople after the conquest of the Vandal kingdom, but the superstitious emperor Justinian, fearing that the captured "treasure of the Jews" would spell the ruin of Constantinople, had it objects sent to Jerusalem in 555 A.D.

Modern writers of occult history suggest that the Knights Templar discovered the Ark in the ruins of Solomon's temple and took custody of it, eventually shipping it back to Europe. A number of hiding places have been suggested for it:one of them is Rennes le Chateau in France, certain European forests and even remote Abyssinia. Some authors have raised the possibility that before reaching its ultimate resting place, the Ark may have been guarded in a very unusual location: the fortress known as Castel del Monte, located in the "heel" of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula.

Castel del Monte was built in 1240 A.D. at the command of the Frederick II, holder of an impressive number of titles, including Holy Roman Emperor and King of Jerusalem. A patron and ally of the Knights Templar, the emperor decreed that his strange, octagonal castle be built to precise measurements having magical significance and enclosing a main hall known, suggestively, as the Master's Chamber. The late Robert Charroux suggested that Castel del Monte was meant to be "a castle of Templar alchemists, governed by the figure 8, which when written horizontally, is the symbol of infinity and universal domination." (Charroux, Legacy of the Gods, NY: Berkeley, 1974).

Lacking all the typical inner structures of a castle, such as armories, refectories and living quarters, this octagonal fortress was not meant to repel invaders or serve as a garrison. In the light of all of its mystical associations, could we not speculate that this, in fact, was the special place built to receive the ultimate relic--the Ark of the Covenant? Under the protection of the powerful German emperor and the Knights Templar, it is hard to conceive of a safer location, or as Charroux points out, a more symbolic one, since Castel del Monte is located halfway from the greatest points of pilgrimage in the Mediterranean world: Santiago de Compostela in the west and Jerusalem in the east.

Conclusion

Objects of such mystical prowess often conferred legitimacy upon the wearer: the crown of Constantine hung in full view above the altar of Constantinople's Hagia Sophia church, from where it was taken many times by anyone inclined to make a bid for the Byzantine throne. The successful coup-de-etat was seen as a sign of divine favor and the crown returned to its proper place.

Humanity has certainly shown a flair for imbuing physical objects with unsuspected magical or supernatural powers, but can we casually dismiss their existence as flights of fancy? Certainly some of them existed, and some of them have astonishing stories to tell.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Argentina: Another Stunning CE-3 in La Pampa

A new close encounter of the third kind (CE-3) took place in the afternoon of 20 September at a community 80 km distant from the city of Santa Rosa, capital city of La Pampa province.

The protagonist of the strange episode is the same one who was vistied by a strange being a few months ago. The intruder left a series of burns on her arms after having made contact with one of her extremities.

This shocking incident was made known to the Centro de Estudios UFO as it was in the past, and only a few hours after, a member of the group arrived on the scene to commence his field study, ascertaining that aside from the marks on the experiencer’s face, it was possible to find marks in the back yard that resembled very large feet. The woman was aided by her relatives, who contacted our center. Research kicked off with a test aimed at determining several of the experiencer’s physical and psychological aspects, whose results shall be made known in coming weeks.

Reiteration

It should be remembered that this woman has “suffered” experiences of this kind on several occasions, the first of them as she went about her chores in a farm in November 2008; the second in October 2009; the third in March 2010 and the last one in September 2010.

Entity Characteristics

The outstanding characteristics of the strange being described by the witnesses are the following: a height estimated at 2 meters. Very thin body with long extremities. Gave the impression of being very frail, but was extraordinarily strong on occasions in which physical contact was made. Has no ears. The eye cavity apperas hollow, but the reddish light within them, “as though from a little light”, stands out. The nose is imperceptible or else flattened “like an ape’s” and the mouth is an almost imperceptible slit on the ski. The witness was shocked by what appeared to be the entity’s suit or skin, which she defined as “wrinked” or “like fish scales”. Its hands were large, but the most significant aspect were its large, rounded fingers. Regarding feet, which she was able to notice in the latest experience, “they were large and as if in three parts” although she cannot define if it was footwear. The color of the skin or suit is dark, either grey or greenish.

Detalis

The being appeared within the home shortly after 20:15 hours. How it entered is unknown, as the doors were shut. She claims that she felt the sensation that [the entity] was not alone, as it looked and made sounds as though there were something behind it, but she was unable to see if this was the case. The witness recacted saying: “nooooo, not again, noooo” and the being took hold of her face in a firm, decisive manner. This resulted in some dark marks on her cheekbones that were visible in photographs. It was thus that she felt the great strength of its extremities.

The protagonist’s son was one of the first to come to her assistance. He says that he heard a strange buzzing sound, similar to a very sharp “beep”. The experience lasted only a few minutes, after which the woman calmed down and retold her experience. The young man contacted CEUFO and took the photo of the strange print in the back yard of the house. We shall provide further information on this research in future updates.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Peru: FAP Interceptor Attacked UFOs in the 80s

This is the only documented case of a combat aircraft opening fire against a UFO.

On the morning of 11 April 1980, personnel from the Fuerza Aerea Peruana (FAP) base in La Joya, Arequipa, a thousand kilometers south of the Peruvian capital, detected a strange object flying in the vicinity.

At the time, the La Joya air base was considered one of the most strategic and secret in Perú due to its proximity to the Chilean border, a country against which a war was nearly unleashed years earlier. The base had underground facilities in the desert pampas, where valuable combat aircraft were concealed.

Assuming that the intruder was a spy aircraft, the base commander ordered an immediate scramble of a Sukhoi SU-22 fighter-bomber with orders to destroy the target, originally supposed to be a sort of aerostat balloon located 5 kilometers away. The time was 7:15 a.m. and base personnel – a complement of some 1800 men – were in formation, witnesses to this event.

Oscar Santa María Huertas, at the time a lieutenant in the FAP, commanded the aircraft that raced down the runway before lifting itself skyward on an intercept-and-destroy mission.

The moment the object was within his sights, suspended and motionless some 600 meters over the ground, Lt. Santa María pulled the trigger, firing a powerful hail of bullets from his aircraft’s 30mm guns. Sixty-four rounds out of a total of 160 were fired against the UFO.

The rounds appeared to pierce the object without exploding or causing any harm. The object then hurled itself skyward at a tremendous speed, chased by the Soviet-made interceptor. The UFO then gained speed. Santa María lit the afterburners, propelling the Sukhoi to Mach 1.2, breaking the sound barrier.

Up to that moment, the object had not been detected by radar. For this reason, the Peruvian pilot did not avail himself of the plane’s missiles. He only sought to get close enough to the object to fire again, having over 100 rounds left.

When the Peruvian Sukhoi was already near the UFO, the object made a sudden stop, violating the laws of inertia. The fighter-bomber flew past it, with both vehicles at an altitude of 11,000 meters (36,000 feet) “the object pulled away quickly, gaining altitude at the same time. Later, it stopped abruptly, and I had to maneuver to avoid colliding with it,” said Santa María.

It was thus that Lt. Santa María and his aircraft went from being hunters to prey. He was being pursued by the UFO at 19,000 meters (62,000 feet), nearly 1000 meters beyond the aircraft manufacturer’s specifications. Furthermore, his fuel supply was running low.

Faced with this situation, Oscar Santa María decided to abandon his mission and withdraw, even as the UFO continued to ascend, losing itself in space. He was eighty-four kilometers away from his base, and 22 minutes had elapsed since his first contact with the UFO.

After landing, the UFO reappeared, remaining visible to the air base for nearly two hours.

Peruvian authorities jealously guarded this incident and it recently came to light during a declassification of documents by the U.S. Department of State. Researchers interviewed Oscar Santa María, the now-retired fighter commander, and their report appeared in History Channel, becoming known worldwide through cable TV broadcasts. It should be noted that Santa María had been speaking of the matter for a number of years in several American and European countries.

According to UFO experts, this is the only case in which a military aircraft has attached a UFO. There was a similar case, but the pilot was unable to fire against the unknown object. On the other hand, the Peruvian did make use of his weapons, firing a total of 64 rounds.

The aggressiveness, determination and dexterity of the Peruvian pilot should be noted, as he attacked his target without hesitation, flew his aircraft to its design limits, and returned intact to its base.

A total of 52 Sukhoi-22 fighter bombers (SU-17s in the USSR) entered into service in Peru three years before the incident, and had been combat-ready for two years prior to the encounter. They participated in the two most recent conflicts with Ecuador, and after several refurbishments and upgrades in which they were equipped with electronic, optical and countermeasures, some 20 units remain in service, although some accounts suggest that they have been completely removed from service.

The UFO

Lt. Santa María described the object he attacked: “It was an object with a blued dome, looking like a light bulb split in half, with a wide metal base that made everything shine. When I approached and saw it completely, I realized that it lacked nozzles, wings, windows, antennae...nothing at all. It was a very smooth surface above and below.”

There is another undocumented case in which a Peruvian aircraft, fearing an attack, had fired a missile against a UFO three years prior to this incident.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Puerto RIco: Photo & Video of Advertising UFO

Photo of the "advertising UFO" created by Silver Wings Sky Media, soon to become a source of mistaken reports all over the Caribbean, to judge by the company's marketing plans. Video can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfswlJEjQQk

Puerto Rico: Alleged UFO Over San Juan Metro Area

Source: El Nuevo DiaDate: 10.03.10Reported by: Gerardo Vázquez Ortiz

Puerto Rico: Alleged UFO Over San Juan Metropolitan Area

With many lights, flying low and lighting up the sky – this was the description given by citizens of the “unidentified flying object” (UFO) seen over the metropolitan area tonight.The alleged “UFO” turned out to be a helicopter with illuminated promotional ads that can only be seen from below when the craft flies over people. This advertising means is unheard of in the island, and it is the first time that it has been seen in Puerto Rican skies.

The new project has been brought to Puerto Rico by “Silver Wings Aviation”, offering aviation services and promoting “Advertising in the Sky” or the “Sky Billboard”.

The sighting was a cause of alarm for hundreds of citizens who contacted CAZA NOTICIAS at EL NUEVO DIA.COM, social networks and even the police. “It had many yellow lights that contracted and expanded. It wasn’t an airplane,” said Yaritza Santiago, who was on the De Diego Expressway heading toward San Juan.

Andrés Remigio was driving along the Las Américas Expressway when he saw an object assuming various shapes. Later, he saw the UFO heading off toward the sea at a rate of fifty miles an hour. “The lights narrow down to a single line, and then open into a “V” shape, and then into a circle,” Remigio added.

The sighting took place not only over San Juan, according to citizens. It was reported that residents of Carolina and Bayamón have also witnessed the strange object in the skies. “It’s really weird. It spins and comes down little by little,” said Dalaitty Ortiz, who saw it with all of her relatives. Meanwhile, Gladimir Valgara, a resident of Bayamón, reported seeing the same object in the area.

However, it was Carlos Santiago Massol, the company’s spokesman, who claimed that they were only testing the craft and made their presentation to advertising firms. Soon they will be flying over all of the Caribbean islands.

The spokesman explained that the project has been underway for 30 years but had not yet reached the Caribbean. “It’s not a UFO. It’s a new means of nocturnal aerial advertising,” concluded Santiago Massol.

Friday, October 01, 2010

Silvia Pérez Simondini: Chupacabras Attacks in Argentina

"The Case That May Give Us Answers”Chupacabras Attacks in ArgentinaBy Silvia Pérez Simondini - VISION OVNI

On few occasions in this investigation have we had all of the elements on hand to finally reach some conclusions on this phenomenon. First, to bring our readers up to speed, we shall provide you with backup information on the story.

News Item From the Misiones Media:

Ten sheep were mortally attacked in recent weeks in a livestock farmer’s field in this locality, according to eyewitness information presented to the Sheriff’s office, the body that has been investigating the strange event that has shaken the residents of this rural area.

Since the attacks occurred on two occasions and always at night, the caretakers, farm employees and Police officers have set up a rotating watch against the possibility that the strange animal may reappear again. It left sufficiently clear prints to increase suspicions that the police prefers not to encourage for the time being.

Jose Fraga, owner of the field and the animals, decided to report the happenings to the Police, and while he wanted to file a complaint, the authorities made him desist for the time being, saying “against who would the complaint be filed?” according to clarifications issued by the police department.

Fraga explained that near one of the pens in his field, he found a large, deep footprint with three long toes.” Like that of a bird, but somewhat larger,” he said, and with regard to the injuries to the animals’ bodies, he added: “The all had bite marks on their necks.”

Andres Gonzalez, Sheriff of Campo Viera, confirmed that the attacks occurred twice and that “it is truly remarkable that the animal did not devour any of the sheep. It merely killed them by biting their necks, and blood was only found in that area of the body. There was nothing found in the rest of their bodies.”

The sheriff noted that he had gone to Fraga’s field in person with others to see the event for himself. “Sheep carcass samples were removed, because there were traces of mucus and its possible to determine what attacked these creatures, and we will know in a few days,” he explained. “Many people are saying other things, but we have to wait and avoid jumping to conclusions. We really don’t know what it may be, because a puma or a yaguareté would’ve devoured one of the animals. But in this case there are 10 dead sheep and none of them were touched, only to slay them...” said González.

The figure of the Chupacabras began to acquire shape in the locality, and cows exhibiting strange bite-marks were found en in Campo Grande, attributed by connection to the strange animal that has kept the owner of dozens of sheep and top-quality cows in a state of restlessness.

In the Ninth Section

Fraga’s field is located in the Ninth Section of Campo Viera, some four kilometers away from the town center of the locality at the province’s heart, practically attached to Oberá. Yesterday, Miguel Figueredo – caretaker of the 175 hectare spread – was startled by the events and for the time being cares for the two sheep and one cow that survived the attack. “The sheep have injuries to their necks, they’re clinging to life...they don’t drink or eat, they’re in poor shape. The cow has bites on its teats and I heard over the radio that other cows had been injured in the same area over in Campo Grande...” he explained, somewhat frightened.

“It’s as though all of the blood had been sucked out. The vet that came here, cut one of them (the sheep) and not even water came out,” he added without hesitation.

In Fraga’s field, featuring a ranch up high, there are currently 18 sheep and 50 cows, some of them nursing young. “That’s why we’re keeping a night watch with the police, because there are many animals and we have to look out for them.”

Most of the sheep chosen by the so-called Chupacabras were pregnant, increasing uncertainty about the creature that is loose in the area.

[Next is the report by Silvia Perez Simondini and members of the VISION OVNI group]

Veterinarian: Arno StockmannsAnimal Owner: José FragaNumber of Deceased Animals: Ten (10)Animals Surviving the Attack: Three (3) SheepCarcass Description: Ten (10) Sheep were mortally attacked, with exact incisions in their necks, bodies exsanguinated. The attacker injured two more specimens and a cow’s udders. The strange animal’s attacks were exact in jugular area. In a matter of minutes, it drained the blood from each slain animal.Crows and caranchos (vultures) fly over the carcasses without coming near the injured parts, as if repelled by something. Other parts of the carcass, however, have been eaten.A three fingered print was found.Ants advanced over the sheep carcasses, but turned back upon reaching the neck area.

Antibiotics have been unsuccessfully administered to one of the surviving animals in an effort to halt the infection process: Irondel every 48 hours. Veterinarian Penz from the City of Oberá tested other antibiotics which have hitherto yielded no results.

Based on the photographic material received from the animals’ owner, the following patterns have been identified:1) Acknowledged bovine cattle mutilations – incision with exposure of the jawbone, removal of tissue, tendons, ligaments and hide. Incision made to the larynx without hyoid bone extirpation.2) Incision to the animal’s nose area.3) Marks on the animal’s back with wool removal.4) Deep incision to the neck area with apparent exsanguination.5) Lacerations on one specimen’s face.6) Circular cut with nasal injury in another specimen.7) Incised cut on the outer ear.

PARTICULARS

1) Well-defined, three-clawed marks were found near the carcasses (similar to those of a very large bird, approximate length of 18 centimeters) which were well-marked due to terrain conditions.2) Another element observed is the strange behavior of the ants, which invaded the body but died upon reaching the level of the injuries.3) A deep incised cut on the animal’s hide was found. There is the possibility that the animal was “impaled” to hold it down when producing this cut.

APPRAISAL

This case was consulted with Dr. Alberto Pariani of the National University of La Pampa, not only with regard to the injuries, but as how best to work with the surviving animal, which now displays a process of infection that has not been controlled, despite the veterinarian’s efforts. New antibiotics were suggested, and we are awaiting reports on their effect.

It should be highlighted that local authorities have behaved hesitantly in this case. We believe this is due to an inability to find a satisfactory conclusion to the events.

It is important that they intervene in the case, since the possibility of catching this creature alive makes it a very important item of research in finding a satisfactory answer through scientific means.

We are trying to find a way of getting the surviving specimen to the University of La Pampa, which is difficult due to the lack of financial resources to convey it.

The case remains open, awaiting the conclusions of the forensic authorities of Oberá, which we shall consult if the animals’ owner does not provide us with a reply.

Our thanks to the Community Leader of Campo Viera, Mr. Juan Carlos Rios, and the animals’ owner, Mr. Jose Fraga, for their help and for reporting the case.

About Me

The Institute of Hispanic Ufology was established in October of 1998 with the appearance of the first issue of Inexplicata. The organization currently has representatives and contributing editors in over a dozen Spanish-speaking countries. Director: Scott Corrales.